ART219 Illustration

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Don't wait until Thursday night to try to pull off the 3-image gouache. It will bite you. Trust me. Don't be afraid to start over if you need to. It always goes faster the second or third time and it normally is better too. Just trying to help. You guys are needing to get some portfolio samples. Midterm is coming up.

3-Image Gouache Montage

Start messing around with the new gouache paints and become familiar with them. Gouache is very similar to traditional watercolor, but it has the flexibility to go opaque if you mix it thicker. This is a handy attribute. I showed you today the gesso, mat medium and water mixture to coat your paper or illustration board. This toughen up the surface and allows you to work with a subtraction technique (picking). It is very similar to toning a drawing to a medium tone and working back/erasing to the whites and adding in the shades in the darker areas. Something to try. I'm not officially assigning any small technique exercises. I'll leave that to you to decide how many you should do to be comfortable in accomplishing the assignment for Friday.

OK, the assignment: The final printout of the 3-image gouache montage will be 8 x 10. If you learned anything from the product illustration going from original to printout, you can figure out how big the actual illustration should be. Hmm?!.

The three images should have nothing in common - I'm not looking for a theme. Choose wisely your subject matter. Think of and use your basic compositional knowledge and use of design elements and principles to create a cohesive and unified artwork. Hint: vary scale of the three images, think of hierarchy, develop a focal point and have a compositional flow. Make good color choices - avoid mudd.

Have the original artwork done by Friday to turn in to me. The printout will be due on Monday, mounted with 1 inch border on black mat board or foamcore. Try using a sharp knife when cutting. Some of the product illustration trim jobs really sucked.

If you can't make it good, make it big.

That is an old Viscom axiom. We'll see if it holds up. For Wednesday, have one 20 x 30 inch landscape watercolor completed. Observed or from photo reference - watercolor paper or cold press illustration board. Remember to make a good composition, have good lighting and paint something interesting to look at. Think of foreground, middleground and backround in your composition. This should take four to five hours to do something decent. You might also work the process of some small color sketches to figure all of this out before you go big. Just trying to help.

Memory Portrait

For Monday... You are mentally picturing a relative or friend (NO FRIGG'N PICTURES) and you will execute a line art and color wash portrait of this person. Easy, easy. Work the process of 5, 10 or more rough sketches to find the image you want to produce then transfer it to the larger size. Final size is 9 x 12 inch. You can use watercolor paper of illustration board. Think of composition and how to best utilize color and line in this piece. Be creative, be expressive, be confindent. That's all you have to do to make this look good.

Size does matter!

So, for Friday in addition to the three line final illustrations that are due... You are working on only three watercolors to be reviewed at the start of class. But the difference this time is scale. I want to look at two 9 x 12 watercolors and one 12 x 18 watercolor. Subject is open and so is watercolor and line techniques you have been working with so far. I want to stress again, two of the most critical decisions you make are subject matter and quality of the lighting in what you select. If you make these two decisions correctly, then the rest is simple technique. Focus on composition and give me three strong pieces. Make me believe you know what you are doing. Do it with flair. Oh, by the way, the size change up will screw with your head - which is what I want to do. Watch your color saturation and line weight quality at the larger sizes.

Also, have three 9 x 12 watercolors ready to work on in class on Friday.

Watercolor wash and line art combo

OK, for Wednesday...

10 watercolor and line art illustrations: size 5.5 x 8.5 inch. Subject matter is open. Tip: find a subject that has good lighting and shadows to work with. Many of the photographic references seem very flat without any strong light source. If you pic a subject with good lighting, it will make your efforts with watercolor more successful. Also, simplify your subjects a bit more and pick something with a strong focal point. Composition is as always, critical.

So, work up a base color wash, letting the wash do it's wash thing. This is not paint by numbers or staying withing the lines. Color is fluid. Let it dry well, then hit it with line art - pen and ink, sharpie, micron or if you are brave, painted line. The line art will function as the structure in the artwork.

Bring three more in-class sheets ready to paint again in class.

 

In-class Friday

For Friday in-class... have three 5.5 x 8.5 pencil sketches on watercolor paper from a photographic reference (the same image three times). Use the Art-o-graph (Lucy) to transfer the photographic reference to the paper, like I showed you today in class. We will be watercoloring these three images in class. Pick a topic that isn't overly detailed or complex and make sure it has good lighting. Shadows are your friend. Again, always think of composition. Bring your supplies and be ready to watercolor.

Color Wheel

Also for Friday, have a watercolor color wheel with primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Just like Terry's.

10 Watercolor landscapes

For Friday, have 10 observed watercolor landscapes to look at. Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch. As you try to make the media do what you want it to do... focus on good compositions as well.  Good luck.

Watercolor

Wasn't Terry fun today? As goofy as the videos are, he demonstrated some of the fundamental things that you will be using and getting good at (hopefully) this semester. Did you take any notes? He already has given you the four secrets to watercolor - wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on wet and dry on dry. Also, what is the difference in a loaded brush and dry brush? Start practicing some of the things he was demonstrating. You have to learn to walk before you run and we will be running full-out by the end of the semester. Practice, practice, practice. Quantity is your friend. We watch the intermediate video on Weds.